that cane because it's been such a busy day i don't have enough time. mo elleithee and guy benson thank you for being here today. i will see you, on mueller, but we have avenatti news. i am dana. >> if you are president trump, you are having a good day. and just cleared you have collusion. the israeli prime minister has just called you the best friend, israel ever had in one of your harshest critics just got arrested. a very good day, indeed, of course some of his rivals get their way, the good times will not last, the white house just called into an event supposed to be close to the press and the president will be speaking. we will see soon what the president has to say as our reporting begins >> our reporting begins with

michael avanati in court and under arrest. faces charges of extortion, bank and wire fraud in new york city and in los angeles. a spokesman for u.s. attorney says he was arrested today in new york. attorney gains national recognition for representing stormy daniels. federal prosecutors say the case is centered around the sports of apparel giant nike. he used an unnamed associate. threatened to hold a news conference to announce allegations nike employees committed misconduct if they didn't pay him close to 25 million dollars. what u.s. attorneys call a shakedown. he could face decades behind

bars. they say he embezzled a client's money to pay his own expenses and own debt and used phony tax returns to get millions of dollars from a bank. laura engel reporting in new york city news room, what more do we know about the charges in new york? >> hey, shep, michael is expected to be in court. he could go to prison for 47 years if convicted on all the new york charges. prosecutors call this a an old fashion shakedown. he met with lawyers for nike last week and threatened to release damaging information if they didn't agree to give him 25 million dollars.

he made threats as colorful as his tweets, to nike, you know enough to know you have a serious problem. here is jefferey birmman moments ago. >> he was arrested in midtown manhattan 15 minutes after he tweeted this. tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern, we'll expose a scandal. reaches the highest levels of nike and biggest names in college basketball.

avenatti, the attorney that represented stormy daniels. she got in on the action tweeting this, knowing what i know about michael, i am saddened he has been criminally charged. i made the decision to terminate michael's services after he dealt with me extremely dishonestly. i his court appearance will take closer to 4:00 p.m. eastern. >> laura engel live from new york. separate case in los angeles against michael avenatte. chief correspondent johnathon hunt there now. >> two charges, shep, first embezzling his client's money.

he apparently negotiated a 1.6 million dollar settlement over intellectual property dispute. he apparently told the clients payment date was march 10th. lawyer used the money to pay expenses for his coffee expenses. avenatti will appear in court in santa ana, orange county. >> there is another charge in los angeles? >> yep, another charge here in southern california.

avenatti defrauded a bank in mississippi submitting false tax returns to get loans totally 4.1 million dollars for law firm and coffee business. allegedly claimed he earned four and a half million in 2011. close to five and a half million 2012, more than four million 2013. instead paid millions in taxes. the complaint alleges he hasn't filed tax returns at all. in fact still owes the irs more than $850,000 for the 2009 and 2010 tax years. >> all of these acts taken to support his lash life style a venture into a car racing company, life style which is estimated to exceed $200,000 a

month. ren dtal of a new port beach ho and ownership of five million dollar laguna beach home. >> if avenatti is convicted on both charges, he could face up to 50 years in federal prison, shep? >> jonathan hunt in los angeles. alex little. former assistant u.s. attorney, new york, a series of crimes in los angeles, a lot here. >> it is not a good day tosh michael avenatti. pretty devastating. >> specifics in new york, could you lay out those charges? >> it is a conspiracy to extort a publically traded corporation.

they allege he engaged in a scheme to extract money from ni nike. much like the case that is being prosecuted in manhattan. mr. avenatti obtained information and was going to go public if he didn't get money, he was going to harm their representation. can't do that, it is extortion. it has landed him in a lot of trouble. >> help us understand how it works. somebody come to you, tried to get something out of you, you pick up the phone. who do you call? what happened? >> what is interesting, another media who that co-conspirator is. they came to nike this is serious. we need to talk to you.

lawyers for nike realized this wasn't a standard negotiation. as soon as they realized the type of threat being made and severity of the request they went to federal prosecutors who started to record them. there are tapes of avenatti. >> out in los angeles trying to say you had more than you did to get a loan? >> los angeles appears to be based on bread and butter bank fraud. try to get loans based on that. also appears to have stolen money from client. if the facts are what they are, he is going to spend time in prison. >> new york case you pointed out, you see similarities with a very high profile american? >> what is interesting about this case, is folks remember a few weeks ago, jeff bezos, ceo

of amazon. if i don't do something, they are going to release them. what is interesting. lawyers who talk about that case, isn't it extortion? ama is being investigated. reached agreement with the same prosecutors to stop that behavior. those prosecutors we know feel like actions like this are extortion. there is a decent chance they are going back to national inquirer, you have legal liability. >> thank you. president trump commenting on mueller investigation and what was an investigation of possible collusion with the campaign. after robert mueller cleared president trump of collusion, the president had rare words of

praise. in addition, we are expecting to hear from the president in a few minutes, he had a closed to the press event happening at theous white house that the president decided he would open to the press. details of that, little stanley cup action and what else he has to say as our reporting continues on this monday morning. i've always been amazed by what's next. and still going for my best, even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin... i want that too. eliquis. eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis is fda-approved and has both. what's next? reeling in a nice one. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding.

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>> shepard: special council robert mueller wrapped up the russian investigation. democrats calling if the justice department to publically release the entire mueller report after the attorney general bill barr released a four-page summary just yesterday. white house declaring victory. president saying he is good with that being released. he repeatedly called russian

investigation a witch hunt. president also said this and listen carefully about the man in charge of it all. >> did he act honorably? yes he did. he didn't find evidence that president trump or members of his administration colluded with russia. special council could not reach a conclusion on whether or not he obstructioned justice. mueller's team say that to attorney general bill barr a few weeks before this came out. part of the attorney general's letter reads: while this does not conclude he committed a crime, also does not exonerate him. barr also writes, the evidence developed during the special council's investigation issing

not sufficient to accomplish that the president committed obstruction of justice offense. democrats want more answers. >> we were all here saw it with our own eyes trump took. it will not rise to a high bar beyond a reasonable doubt. obstruction of justice doesn't mean everything is hunky dor ri. dory. john roberts reporting live from the white house. >> hey shep. potentially political jeopardy. in an expansive mood, one was a photo op of netanyahu then opened up eval office event and the event with the washington

capitols. president maintaining never any collusion with russia, all a hokes, certainly the letter from attorney general bill barr seems to indicate there was no evidence of collusion. here is what the president said a little while ago. >> last ed a long time. there are a lot of the of people who have done bad things, treasonist things against our country. we can never, ever let this happen to another president again. >> at the same time, the white house officials wanting to meet out punishment those that say there was collusion listen to

what press secretary said. ? i think it was disgraceful we had 25 million dollars to chase a witch hunt. i think democrats and liberal media should be absolutely embarrassed in their breathless reporting and hoax. it is not just that they reported and spread a slanderous lie. they hoped if r the take down of the president of the united states. >> democrats not satisfied with what they heard. quoting the line this does not conclude the president committed a crime, also doesn't exonerate him. there is a good chance the attorney general will be up on capitol hill in a couple of committees and talk to democrats about getting robert mueller up. mueller found there was no

underlying evidence of a crime which is why he didn't answer the obstruction of justice charge. he threw an alley-oop to deputy attorney general slam dunking or swatting it away. shep? >> shepard: john, the president weighed in on the idea of releasing the entire report, has his stand changed? >> no it hasn't. the president said let it all get out there. that is what he said in the oval office a short time ago. listen here. >> it wouldn't bother me at all. up to the attorney general. >> shepard: breaking news new rocket fire over the gaza strip. you are looking live in gaza now. our team on the scene tells us

israel's iron dome is in full force to take out these new threats our tray yanks reporting live between border of israeli and gaza, tray? >> reporter: shep, moments ago we witnessed new rocket fire into central and southern israeli. they are firing a series of rockets. we have seen israel's missiles, iron dome intersecting many of the rockets. few not intercepted. could be antitank missiles. shep, war planes and helicopters hit key infrastructure including major hamas security and office of top leader. just now learning, shep, factions inside gaza will respond to the israeli air

strikes. a rocket fired earlier from the gaza strip to central, israeli hit a central home injuring six people. those people are out of the hospital. this is a redline for israeli military. particularly when it is effecting israeli civilians. series of air strikes along the border additionally right now at this time, there are factions responding with new rocket fire. shep? >> are you expecting this has happened and it? or an ongoing process. ? >> shep, this is an ongoing process. we spoke earlier with an official. still not taking credit for the

strike. officials did say along with other factions they would be prepared to respond what they called israeli aggression. appears they have made a decision despite the fact there are egyptian negotiators. we have seen a series of rockets fired. appears this is just getting started for the night. 6:00 p.m. local time. past few hours, communities around southern israeli have heard a number of explosions and fighter jets that have been hitting those inside of gaza. >> tray right there on the israeli-gaza border. we'll go back to him later. this provoked israeli prime

minister netanyahu. netanyahu said israel is responding forcefully and leaving washington with a major policy win for israel. president trump signed a proclamation. that is along disputed area of land bordering north of israel and on the border of syria. israeli forces took that land from the syrians during the 1967 war. these have been called disputed or occupied territories. united nations rejects israel's claim. united states tried to appear neutral. that ended today. >> today aggressive action by iran and terrorist groups including hezbollah continued to

make it a launching ground against israel. very violent attacks. any possible peaceful attacks. danger >> shepard: united states recognizes golan heights part of israel. israeli prime minister said israel will do whatever it must to defend people. blake birmham reporting. >> shep, overturned in a handful of days. take you back to thursday afternoon twitter president trump september out a tweet, about time u.s. recognizes gol

lan heights as israeli land. he signed a proclamation. the president said one of the reasons he needed to do this was because of security issues in the area. >> i am taking historic action to promote israel's ability to defend himself and strong national security they are entitled to have. >> you heard a bit from netanyahu, he called it a truly historic day and praised the president throughout his remarks. benjamin netanyahu faces re-election 15 days from now. many feel this action could potentially bolster his chances back at home.

shep, they will be releasing their plan after israeli hosts its election. >> >> shepard: blake, live camera on the border of israeli and gaza. this is live. you are looking live on the border there. i know tray is still there with us. from your position in israeli tray is this out going or incoming? what are we watching? he is working to get hooked up. i believe this is incoming and what we are seeing is israeli defense system. iron dome as it is so often called. that is my belief.

he is on the ground. we'll let him do the telling. trey, you there yet? none of this unexpected now, series of events that have taken place. a lot of the of back and forth. matter of golan heights will cause angsts. question is what will this do for the peace process. michael sing is with us, managing director of the washington institute. he focuses on u.s. strategy in the middle east. where does this leave it? this is aimed as boosting prime minist

minister benjamin netanyahu's chances. this might put them in a bit of a corner. israelis say those are short term costs. they probably don't put a lot of hopes on this peace process. now is there window of opportunity. >> shepard: this is from the '67 war. israeli troops went in, captured the golan and occupied those territories since 1967. they matter here, united nations i believe calls them territories. has the united states just taken

aside that changes the scope here or no. >> maybe from a legal perspective. israeli attacked in the 1960s. i think that especially since the syrian war broke out in 2011, they wouldn't envision israel giving this territory back, what with the partnership to iran and russians. reality doesn't change much. legally, yes, this is certainly a change in u.s. poll sichlt >> shepard: does it set a precedent. there are politicians well known politicians and positions of politicians of some in israel suggesting the same thing should happen with gaza? the west bank, the west bank.

>> well, what people worry about in washington, less for west bank or more for kree mia. crimea. if you go to the golan heights, shep, this is a territory which feels like part of israel. west bank very different. heavily populated by palestinians. >> shepard: it is a buffer for the israelis they have said they wanted. a president prime minister under indictment. associated press -- sirens are whaling, what i said a minute

ago is what happened. there had been back and forth. israelis went in and took a strike on hamas' chief office. then the gaza militants, this is what we saw live, 10 rockets, tray yanks was with us. looks like iron dome went to strike is that right? >> we are getting reports at least one of the rockets fired from gaza landed in a nearby city town over the border from gaza. town often hears sirens blaring when the rockets fire. what we saw behind me, moments ago, shep. likely incoming rocket fire

farther down the gaza strik strip. i want to look off in the distance here, we are getting a bit of sirens, we'll let you all take a listen to that. sirens in this region. people are used to this sound. they know how to get to the shelters close to the towns and also close to their homes in towns. many of the towns in southern israeli. what we saw, shep rockets fired some intercepted from iron dome. at least one was impacted. hopefully the is sa sevilcivile

able to make it to the bomb shelt shelter. >> >> shepard: 10 at a time is a new level? >> it is, shep. you'll see streams of rockets fired from one position. militants, whether they are with the political group hamas or islamic jihad, they are firing in groups in an effort to confuse these israelis and overwhelm israel's defense system, the iron dome. we have spoken with many of these factions, met with top leaders and they basically said a month ago, they were prepared for war. a lot happening in israel right now.

everyone has concerned this week and weeks after could lead to what we are seeing tonight. upcoming israeli elections april 9th. this weekend is return of great return march. friday demonstrations. thousands of palestinians have taken place. israel prime minister benjamin netanyahu meeting with donald trump. they are getting directions from top leadership. hamas officials told fox news, hamas is providing them with weapons and money. as you saw president trump talking at the white house, united states supports prime minister netanyahu and their efforts to defend their country.

you are also seeing it inside with hamas. >> shepard: breaking news bent benjamin netanyahu delays to israeli and holds a security meaning. normally means there is action coming. that's right, in addition to those factors which tray mentioned. a lot of people suspect in fact the rival to hamas. now trying to divert attention

by firing off these rockets. in a way the israelis don't want to play into hamas' hands. prime minister netanyahu has been accused of the left and right of being soft on hamas. when you add that to missile strikes he can't help but have a strong response. >> shepard: little background, strike by hamas militants, israelis responded. one target struck by the israeli jet was the office of hamas leader in a neighborhood in the northern gaza. the building served as an office for military meetings and headquarters of hamas' security forces attacked in the past by

another similar defense mechanism in 2012. local reports said also struck the home of the director of the general intelligence in gaza. these back and forth situations don't seem like much until they become a full time war. really ready for full conflict. >> that's right. we haven't had a major war over gaza since 2014. a lot of flare ups like the situation we are seeing now. this is sure to revive the debates in israeli about the long-term solution. you'll have people calling for israeli to go out in force moving out on the ground in

gaza. return to targeting assassinations of hamas leaders. when you add that to the northern fronts. lebanon front relatively quiet. it is a difficult situation for israeli. >> shepard: it has been about israel's concerns about a multi-front war. what you talked about is possible of such a -- tensions are high. >> they are very high. so far israel feels it has been relatively successful in part because the russians have allowed freedom of action to go after weapons systems. israelis worry over time you

could have north korea and south korea-type situations, builds up an arsenal along the border that could prove to be a -- >> shepard: this from the israeli foreign ministry which says massive rocket fire from gaza directed at civilian communities in the israeli south. here is the important one. remember it wasn't five minutes ago, netanyahu was going to head home. he changed his mind and now security briefing. netanyahu has been briefed. this always happens.

if it comes from here, israeli defense forces say these are the targets we can hit which happened a few hours ago. in this case, they also send him something else. bigger targets. he approve all the targets one by one. benjamin netanyahu, while they were meeting, activity taking place prime minister netanyahu got the update. i have further been told another briefing and security assessment in 20 minutes from now. 4:00, eastern daylight time. 10:00 p.m. in israeli. and his dc departure depends on

this situation. there has been back and forth. just now according to defense forces, 10 rockets into israel and the prime minister defense chief defense minister. has been approving larger targets. the night should be one of escalation. with these sorts of matters depends on where it goes.

tray, we know this process. we watched it. looks like an escalation. >> shep, this is like exactly, look back to 2014, operation protective edge. one side theying we are not going to respond. israelis say we are going to respond it is this back and forth game. tends to get worse and worse. prime minister presented with larger options inside the gaza strip. it is possible to confirm why

each individual rocket is fired. overall, major target hit by the israeli defense force. ultimately lead to more rocket fire from the factions inside gaza. factions including the faction that report to the larger groups inside the gaza strip are prepared for this to escalate. just two weeks ago two rockets fired to israel's second largest city, tel aviv. although they didn't hit anything of significance. no injuries reported at the time. israelis responded with 100 air strikes it hiting a number of

strikes. what we saw at the time was this escalated and took place until 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. we are looking at an early development. prime minister having a new list of targets inside gaza is going to put more pressure on hamas to respond. they have already released a statement indicating if the israeli's respond, they will increase the range of the rockets. right now, you have egyptian negotiators still trying to deescalate the situation. does appear the efforts are not going anywhere. you have the egyptians and

united nations inside trying to come up with temporary or short term cease-fire. these flare ups inside gaza, they have seen more than 250 people killed if gaza. time line creating the bright situation for this to escalate into a much larger conflict. as we reported earlier, shep, the israelis are prepared in case this erupts into something larger. >> shepard: sorry, viewers were seeing larger explosions. those are not happening now. approaching 10:00 p.m. in israel. that was before the sun came up. one of the rockets, one hit a house.

seven injured which created israeli responz. israelis responded with attacks on hamas locations. now there has been fire coming from gaza into israel. response is what we are to expect next, tray, questions back during the 2012 operation of offense fired these rockets, iranian rockets. were now told they have been rockets that hit any place in israeli jerusalem. that has been one of the concerns about an escalation. >> this is certainly a concern,

shep. pretty much on a weekly basis to cover how this has been unfolding over the past year. concern is groups inside gaza are going to start losing these larger weapons that could hit cities in northern israeli tel aviv, jerusalem. israeli military responding and that continues. what we have seen past 6-8 months is more long-term rockets. others manufactured inside gaza. many of the targets over the past 6-8 months have been rocket manufacturering facilities. getting directions from the iranians if those instances have

direction how to build the rockets. >> >> shepard: just suz saw more rocket fire. there is activity in the sky. i want to talk to amy about the politics of all of this. two things aren't separate. prime minister under indictment. he is getting political incoming from left and right and now this. >> it is true, president trump is doing what he can to show

solidarity. >> president trump has made no secret he believe it is democratic party is playing with fire sch i agree with. they are not coming out and condemning and firming up language young far left insurgence their party, that resolution. they turned into a kitchen sink about hate. democrats are not taking our alliance with israel serious enough. this is an interesting moment of mutual benefit and concern. he wants netanyahu to be re-elected. he wants in solidarity show americans he is the strongest

pro-israel president we have ever had. you are going to hear him talk about this. the fact that there is escalating confidence and president standing by netanyahu's side is likely to help him. we don't know where this conflict will be in a few hours or days. right now, trump will do whatever he can. >> to give you an idea of the tension level in israel, number of newspapers we follow, >> live updates, israel strikes, hamas targets in gaza as sirens blare. bomb shelters open. army warns civilians, explosions heard as part of the attack on the strip. three wounded from rocket strikes still hospitalized. sirens still going off there.

we have seen this before. >> i mean look, this is not something that the israeli people, i believe are going to oppose their peritoneum on. they are likely to rally behind him. this is a tense moment for american democrats and the congress who have been on the record. anti-isreal, anti-semitic and use it as another opportunity to create more intention within the party, that is a political gift no question. >> in recent days there would be few rockets and hour or two later response. then there was a response. this sort of continued pattern for 10 rockets and more and then now more apparently.

this is unusual in recent days and weeks. >> i think that is in part because of the fact the rocket did in fact strike a civilian home north of tel aviv. obviously not a long range. we have a tendency to talk about the back and forth. >> they are fighting at civilians. i wouldn't necessarily assume at this stage this will continue to escalate. it is very possible we could have a cease-fire especially one brokered by egypt. >> shepard: in fact that is what is happening most recent times. some this time of night activity. once you get to 12:00, 1:00 in

the morning, there is a cease-fire of late has held. >> that's right. in past conflicts, remember the 2014 conflict started with the kidnap and murder of some israeli teenagers. what we have is hamas perhaps trying to divert attention from it. i think israel doesn't want to help hamas by assisting in the diversi diversion. >> shepard: tray, you are on the ground, what do you think? >> shep, sirens going off in communities along the gaza border. reports from hamas television station cease-fire reached,

israeli military denying the reports. situation changing by the minute and seeing changes by the minute. certainly not implemented yet. >> shepard: michael, historically this gaza television station, hamas has been a cease-fire reached when one hasn't. people in the territories, israelis keep firing any way. >> a lot of gamesmanship. cease-fire we thought was reached one day after 2014 conflict. it dragged on another 30 plus days. >> shepard: end were difficult days for some in the israeli military. >> that is absolutely right, shep. too soon to tell. we'll know as it progresses overnight. as we see how israeli responds. >> shepard: michael, thank you

so much. tray on the ground, amy stoter as well. this will go on. we have to hit a quick commercial break. when you return to fox news channel, your world with neil cavuto will return. ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands? oh! oh! oh! ♪ ozempic®! ♪ (announcer) people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. oh! under seven? and you may lose weight. in the same one-year study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds.

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. . >> i love this country. i love this country as much as i can love anything, my family, my country, my god. but what they did and it was a false narrative. it was a terrible thing. we can never let this happen to another president again. >> president trump slamming what he calls the quote, false narrative that led to the mueller report and said it would not bother him if the report was released. this is "your world." democrats demand more investigations. well, we have fox team coverage with john r